Korean artist Ayoung Kim is presenting a groundbreaking exhibition titled "Delivery Dancer Codex" at MoMA PS1 in Queens, New York. The show, which runs through March 16, features three interconnected video installations that blend live-action footage, video game engines, and generative artificial intelligence. Kim, who maintains her studio in Seoul's historic Nakwon Sangga complex, creates speculative narratives centered on two female delivery drivers navigating a hyper-capitalist digital landscape. The exhibition marks a significant milestone in the artist's career and offers a critical examination of contemporary labor, technology, and identity.
The trilogy introduces viewers to En Storm and Ernst Mo, characters portrayed by a single actress to emphasize capitalism's homogenizing effects on workers. In "Delivery Dancers Sphere" (2022), the inaugural piece, the protagonists operate within a gamified delivery system overseen by an entity called the Dancemaster. As they optimize their performance, they eventually achieve the status of "Ghost Dancers," becoming invisible to the tracking systems that monitor their every movement. This invisibility serves as both a consequence of exploitation and a form of resistance against constant surveillance and control.
The two subsequent works, both completed in 2024, further develop these themes. "Delivery Dancers Arc: 0º Receiver" depicts Storm and Mo racing across a desert landscape, battling against Timekeepers who enforce absolute temporal standardization. The installation features a haunting vocal performance of "Song of the Sky Pacers," which draws lyrics from ancient Chinese poetry used for celestial navigation. Meanwhile, "Delivery Dancer's Arc: Inverse" presents a vertically oriented fictional world called Novaria, where deliveries flow strictly from underworld to upperworld. This piece encourages viewers to physically recline on orange-carpeted slopes, adopting a stargazing posture to watch the fractured sky displayed across three suspended screens.
Throughout the exhibition, Kim masterfully employs multiple visual styles, ranging from 1990s-inspired animation to hyper-realistic game environments. The fragmented architecture of MoMA PS1's repurposed school building complements the artist's exploration of digital and physical space. Various physical objects—including helmets, sundials, and mirrors—are integrated into the installations, though they sometimes appear secondary to the immersive virtual landscapes. This deliberate displacement challenges traditional hierarchies between tangible and digital experiences.
The exhibition's central argument positions fragmentation not as a problem to be solved but as a possibility for resistance. By referencing both modern GPS technology and ancient navigation methods, Kim suggests alternative ways of understanding time, space, and human connection. The ambiguous relationship between Storm and Mo—oscillating between tenderness and aggression, love and enmity—mirrors the broader tension between individual identity and systemic forces. Their physical proximity triggering system alarms serves as a powerful metaphor for how human connection disrupts capitalist optimization.
Curated by Ruba Katrib, "Delivery Dancer Codex" represents a crucial contribution to contemporary discourse on technology and labor. The exhibition demonstrates how digital tools can simultaneously oppress and liberate, offering new modes of existence within virtual spaces. For visitors, the experience prompts reflection on their own relationships with screens, surveillance, and standardized time. The show runs through March 16 at MoMA PS1's third-floor galleries, located at 22-25 Jackson Avenue in Long Island City.
